China ‘doesn’t want me to win’ upcoming polls: Trump

US President Donald Trump attends the United Nations Security Council briefing on counterproliferation at the United Nations in New York on the second day of the UN General Assembly September 26, 2018. / AFP PHOTO / Angela Weiss

US President Donald Trump accused China on Wednesday of working against his Republican Party in upcoming midterm polls, saying Beijing wanted to see him suffer an electoral blow because of his hard line on trade.

“Regrettably we found that China has been attempting to interfere in our upcoming 2018 election coming up in November against my administration,” Trump said in a session of the United Nations Security Council.

“They do not want me or us to win because I am the first president ever to challenge China on trade.”

Trump did not go into details about how he believed China was interfering in the midterms which could see the Republicans lose control of both the Senate and House of Representatives.

But his allegation comes as trade tensions soar between Beijing and Washington, which this week enacted new tariffs against China covering another $200 billion of its imports.

The United States also irked China earlier this week by going ahead with plans to sell a batch of military parts to the self-governing island of Taiwan.

Beijing sees Taiwan as part of its territory awaiting unification, and is deeply suspicious of the island’s relations with the US.

A special prosecutor, Robert Mueller, is investigating allegations that members of Trump’s inner circle colluded with Russia to secure his victory in the 2016 presidential election after US security agencies determined that Moscow had sought to influence the outcome.